Faculty

Allison Thorson is a Professor of Communication Studies, Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Director of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Children and Youth, and Director of the Child and Youth Studies Minor at University of San Francisco. Her research focuses on how individuals and families communicatively manage and maintain individual/relational well-being in the context of — often deemed taboo — unexpected, hurtful, or non-normative events (e.g., family communication...

Eve-Anne Doohan joined the faculty at USF in 2004. She studies the communication of married couples, with a particular interest in relational history narratives and their connection to marital and individual outcomes. She is also interested in beliefs people have about marriage. Her current research focuses on how married couples make the decision to have children. Her work has been published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Communication, and the Western Journal of...

Evelyn Y. Ho is a professor of communication studies, Asian Pacific American studies, and critical diversity studies, and teaching for the Honors College. Beginning with an understanding that communication is a cultural activity and that health care systems and beliefs are profoundly cultural, Professor Ho's teaching and research focus broadly on the intersections of health, culture, and communication, with a specific focus on the use and cultural meanings of acupuncture and Chinese medicine...

Brandi Lawless is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies. Broadly, her research can be defined as critical intercultural communication — an area of research concerned with understanding power, privilege, marginalization, hegemony, and ideologies. She is interested in the ways individuals (re)produce and communicate identities and subjectivities at the intersections of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and other aspects of identity. Her most recent work has explored intercultural...

Bryan Whaley teaches courses in social influence, message design in health interaction, communication and disability, and experimental research methods. His research interests concern the relationship between language/message variables and social influence, linguistic and social cognitive factors related to illness explanation and compliance messages in health contexts, linguistic and visual strategies for explaining health-related, scientific or complex information, and communication strategies...

Stephen Astle is an advisor, board member, investor and educator specializing in communications surrounding high-stakes, strategy-driven business initiatives. He has broad leadership experience in corporate, consulting and agency settings, with expertise helping corporate boards and leadership teams mitigate risks, fortify culture and reputation, navigate crises and accelerate business transformation. His clients have included Alaska Airlines, Bloomberg, Cisco, CommonSpirit Health, eBay, Equinix...

Donna Uchida leads The Skyhill Group as C-Suite Strategist, empowering executives to drive business outcomes through influence. She is known to drive measurable success on business strategy. She has proven Board and C-Suite experience, driving business transformation, culture of innovation and change leadership.